A federal judge on Friday tossed Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block New York Attorney General Letitia James’ witch hunt investigation into the former president’s business practices.
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes for upstate New York, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling just one day after a state appeals court ruled Trump must testify under oath.
“While the New York proceeding has been ongoing since August 2020, Plaintiffs have submitted no evidence that the subpoena enforcement proceeding has been conducted in such a way as to constitute harassment,” Sannes wrote in a 43-page decision.
Trump’s lawyers said they will immediately appeal the decision.
The Hill reported:
A federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit filed by former President Trump seeking to block the New York attorney general from investigating his business practices.
Sannes granted New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) motion to dismiss the case, rejecting Trump’s arguments that the investigation is being conducted in bad faith and motivated by politics.
Trump attorney Alina Habba quickly vowed to appeal the decision on Friday.
“There is no question that we will be appealing this decision. If Ms. James’s egregious conduct and harassing investigation does not meet the bad faith exception to the Younger abstention doctrine, then I cannot imagine a scenario that would,” Habba said in an emailed statement, referring to the legal standard governing when federal courts should abstain from interfering in state court proceedings.
The former president sued James in federal court in December, alleging that her public criticisms of Trump demonstrated a political bias pervading her civil investigation into his company.
James applauded the decision on Friday.
“Time and time again, the courts have made clear that Donald J. Trump’s baseless legal challenges cannot stop our lawful investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” the attorney general said in a statement. “No one in this country can pick and choose how the law applies to them, and Donald Trump is no exception. As we have said all along, we will continue this investigation undeterred.”
